Page 26 of Reign By Wrath

“She was behind it all, Katie. She dared Levi and the others to torture Winter. She killed Giovanni when he tried to tell me the truth. All this because she blames my father for her father’s death.”

Katie didn’t speak throughout my whole explanation. She didn’t look at me either. She turned away, staring at the window around the time I told her about the text chain where her friends laughed about her mom getting cancer—saying it was karma for raising a slutty, sanctimonious bitch.

I couldn’t be sure she heard the rest after that, but I kept going—telling her the truth for the first time since we met. After I finished, we sat there—crumbling under the air, heavy with all our regrets.

“Katie?” I squeezed her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“My mom.” Her voice was barely higher than a croak. “Did they really say that about her?”

Saying nothing, I pulled up the screenshots and handed them over. I didn’t make everything available when I sold Saylor’s texts. The worst I held back, including things no one had a right to know, even in the name of revenge on Saylor. Katie’s mom kept her cancer diagnosis private. I respected that. I also wouldn’t stand for people to throw what Katie’s friends truly thought of her in her face.

Katie was quiet as she read. Her expression gave nothing away... almost. My heart constricted, seeing the tiniest tremble on her lips.

“We grew up together.”

“I know,” I whispered.

“They were the only ones I knew weren’t using me for money, attention, or a ride up the ladder. The only ones who knew what it was like.”

I thought of a young Victor who could only call his brother a friend because the guys he thought were friends almost drowned him in a lake. It was true what they said: It’s lonely at the top.

Straightening, Katie cleared her throat and handed the phone back. The tremble fled when she turned on me, replaced with a curl I knew well.

“What do you need?”

“What?”

“You heard me,” she snapped. Katie stalked over to her desk, yanked open the drawers, and started throwing things out. “You’re going to take the bitch down, yes? Saylor and the others hid a lot from me, but I know plenty of their secrets. Those texts are just the things Saylor wrote about. I know so much more.

“And Everleigh. If she’s truly done all those awful things...” She stopped, doubling over and clutching her stomach. She was visibly sickened. “Let’s take her down.”

I smiled. It was still rimmed by dried blood, but it wasn’t hidden. “I’m very happy to hear you say that, Katie, because you’re the biggest part of it. Everleigh’s not going to let me close after today. But she thinks you’re her friend.”

“Where the hell is—? Here!” Katie flung her last marker, then picked up a small, leather-bound book. “When we were in elementary school, we started writing in this book. Each of us would take turns writing about anything and everything. It was pretty much how we texted before we got phones.

“Everleigh talks a lot about her dad. Herstepdad, Grant. She hated the guy.” Katie tossed me the journal. I ripped it open without hesitation. “Her mom slept with Everton and got pregnant as revenge against him for cheating. The spiteful woman even named her Everleigh, so Grant would hear the ‘fuck you’ every time he said it. And trust me, he got that message loud and clear.

“I honestly don’t know why they stayed together. They made each other’s lives miserable after that, and Everleigh got the brunt of it. Her mom ignored her, and Grant treated her like shit as if that was the next best thing to getting back at his brother.

“Lately, Everleigh’s gotten closed off. She doesn’t talk much about home or anything real actually,” Katie admitted. “I used to try to get her to open up, but she always said she didn’t want to talk about the messed-up shit in her life when the five of us were together. She just wanted to have fun.

“I respected it and figured she’d open up when she was ready. Now I know why she shut us out.” Katie reclaimed her seat next to me. Taking the journal, she turned to a specific page, then passed it back. “Everleigh loved Everton and he loved her.

“Sometimes, she wouldn’t come home for days because they went on a trip together, or she was staying at his place. Her parents didn’t even notice.” A trace of sympathy crossed her face till she stamped anger down on it. “Anyway, I’m telling you this because Everton kept this up even after he ditched his trial and went on the run.

“He rented a property nearby under an alias and sent for her whenever he could.” She tapped the page. “Everleigh made us promise not to tell.”

It was true. Written in the bubbly, honest speech of a nine-year-old, Everleigh gushed about her daddy’s secret cabin in the woods. I read a short, sweet little paragraph on how much fun she had roasting marshmallows, curling up in sleeping bags under the stars, and fishing for pike.

“Do you see?”

“See what?” I asked.

“Pike, my sweet little dummy.” Katie would always be Katie. “It’s a freshwater fish and we’re surrounded by ocean. There’s only one freshwater river that cuts through the forest. Everleigh doesn’t live on campus, but she still blows off going home for days or weeks at a time.

“I told you she stopped being real with us a long time ago, so I don’t know where she goes, but it did cross my mind that the cabin could still be there. Everton left everything to her when he died, so...”

“So if she inherited this cabin, she’d never sell or give away a place that was special to both of them. A home where she was actually safe and loved,” I finished. “I bet it’s also the place where she plans everything. That’s where the dirt is. Not in HapApp or on the T.O.D. web server, but in that cabin. Katie, you’re helping already.”

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